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Ukraine’s propaganda war: Good TV but bad for truth

Despite images of fire and gun battles, most of Ukraine has not yet been affected by such troubles.
The miners seen here leaving work have not missed a shift since separatists who favour Moscow over Kyiv proclaimed the People's Republic of Donetsk several weeks ago in what is considered to be the separatist heartland.
Photo: Matthew Fisher/Postmedia News

DONETSK, Ukraine — Television images of riots, fires, gun battles and helicopters getting shot down by surface-to-air missiles suggest that Ukraine is under mob rule.

That is hardly the case, although law and order is absent in a few small pockets of the country and the central government in Kyiv has repeatedly proven that it does not have nearly the reach it needs to maintain stability.

Like so many insurrections today, the growing conflict in eastern Ukraine is a propaganda war. Kyiv and especially Moscow have reasons for painting the situation in the starkest terms possible.

The conflict has mostly been seen through the narrow prism of television lenses that cannot resist dramatic images of burning tires, water cannons, tear gas, street brawls and gangs’ storming of public buildings in at least 15 cities and towns. These are true enough, and terrifying evidence that the separatists can provoke havoc almost anywhere they want, but news reports have created a somewhat misleading impression about the general situation.

Odesa bears a close watch after that awful fire left 46 dead last Friday, but Kyiv has been quiet since the previous pro-Moscow regime was toppled in a wild shootout 10 weeks ago.

The east represents about one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory and is home to one-third of its population. Life is rather normal except around a handful of public buildings or in a few relatively small centres such as Slavyansk, where Ukrainian forces were once again involved in heavy fighting to oust several hundred well-organized, dug-in separatists who have evidently received plenty of support, direct or indirect, from Russia in terms of weaponry and perhaps even radar systems. The Russian invasion of Crimea, and what it is doing in eastern Ukraine, represents an ominous development for security in Ukraine, Europe and perhaps globally. But it sometimes does not feel like that on the ground. In the so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk, it is peaceful even within one or two blocks of where checkpoints have been thrown up or where Moscow-loving separatists have grabbed government buildings.

The capital of the People’s Republic of Donetsk, as separatists call it, is full of contradictions. Masked gunmen who favour Moscow over Kyiv have seized control several government buildings in the city and there has been sporadic violence on the streets, but life continues normally almost everywhere and Ukrainian flags still fly untouched over many schools and offices. (Matthew Fisher/Postmedia News)

I had a fine sushi lunch in a packed restaurant on Sunday only 200 metres from the heavily fortified headquarters of the self-styled People’s Republic of Donetsk, where so many white-haired pensioners nostalgic for the Soviet Union had gathered that I thought for a moment I was at one of Preston Manning’s early Reform Party gatherings. These folks did not seem at all put off by the masked gunmen among them who have undoubtedly been recently involved in acts of extreme violence, but their presence in the city, where they mostly guard razor wire and piles of tires and busted-up furniture, often feels more like theatre.

Restaurants and shops of every kind have remained open in this city of one million. McDonald’s still offers a window where burgers and fries are available at any time of day or night. Hotels full of foreign journalists have not felt the need to add any additional security guards. Tellingly, the police, who have been savagely criticized for running away at the first sign of trouble, still brazenly rake in their usual bribes from motorists.

Except in Slavyansk and three smaller nearby towns, buses and trains have continued to operate without any hiccups. The airport remains open to flights from Kyiv, Istanbul, Frankfurt and London, although flights from Moscow have been canceled since the Kremlin stopped Ukrainian flights to Crimea shortly before it formally annexed that territory in March.

People walk freely anywhere except near a couple of public buildings. About the only sanction that seems to be in place is a limit of 500 hryvnia (about $45) at automatic bank tellers. This was apparently imposed to prevent a run on banks such as the one that emptied every ATM in Crimea in the days leading up to the Russian takeover.

Although separatists have proclaimed this city the capital of the People’s Republic of Donetsk, Ukrainian flags still fly from most schools and offices here. Separatists claim to hold Donetsk and are bitterly opposed to national presidential elections scheduled to take place on May 25. But hundreds of candidates’ campaign posters and billboards splashed in Ukrainian colours have not been touched on the city’s main thoroughfares.

Pro-Moscow separatists claim to hold this regional centre and regard it as the capital of the People’s Republic of Donetsk. Yet despite being bitterly opposed to presidential elections slated for May 25, the separatists have not touched hundreds of candidates’ campaign posters on main thoroughfares. Although Ukraine appears to be sliding into civil war, life almost everywhere in the city has until now been no different than before a coup two months ago in Kyiv toppled Moscow’s ally, Viktor Yanukovych. (Matthew Fisher/Postmedia News)

The Donbas region’s main industry, since before the Soviet Union existed, has been coal mining. Not one of the many sleepy, tumbledown operations in or near Donetsk has missed a shift. Nor were any special security measures visible at their gates or outside their offices.

Such contradictions underline that whatever the images suggest, there is not yet a wide-scale insurrection anywhere in Ukraine. What trouble experienced until now has been limited in geographic scope. But like the rest of the world, Ukrainians have been transfixed by the horrors they have seen on television.

Whatever their political allegiances, there is an almost universal sense of dread at the possibility that mayhem may soon overwhelm the country. This has been fed by a pervasive feeling of helplessness, as if events are being managed by an unseen hand that creates disturbances as and when it wishes. It is that aspect that makes the crisis over Ukraine’s future not only grave for Ukrainians but Europe.

Postmedia's international affairs columnist is Canada's longest serving foreign correspondent. He has lived abroad for 30 years in Europe, the Middle East, Far East and, most recently, Afghanistan. His... read more work has taken him to 155 countries, all U.S. states, Canadian provinces and territories and the Magnetic North Pole. Professional interests include international relations, security issues, conflict zones and the Arctic. Personal enthusiasms include military histories, historical novels, hockey, baseball, fishing for pickerel and travel by train or ship to anywhere.View author's profile